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Toronto FC’s Pride Night poignant for Michael Bradley

TFC captain wore a rainbow-coloured armband in a Copa America match last year, days after the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting.

Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley flouted FIFA's taboo about political demonstrations by wearing a rainbow-coloured armband during a Copa America match last year, just days after the Pulse Nightclub shootings. "The ability to understand what other people are going through ... there’s nothing more important," he says. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star)

When Michael Bradley walked out of the tunnel and onto the field at Century Link Stadium last June for a Copa America match against Ecuador, something stood out about the United States captain’s uniform.

On Bradley’s left arm was a rainbow-coloured captain’s armband bearing the words “One Nation,” a slogan used regularly by the U.S. national team but carrying added weight on the day. It was just four days after 49 people were killed and dozens others injured at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, a popular gay bar which would become the site of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history; Bradley was pledging his team’s support to the LGTBQ community.

“It was a way, in that moment, of just showing strength and support and solidarity for the victims, their families, the entire LGBT community and I think it was something that meant a good amount to a lot of people, which always makes things like that worth it,” Bradley, who also captains Toronto FC, said this week.

Bradley and his club team extended that support to Toronto’s LGBTQ community on Friday, hosting the inaugural Pride Night at BMO Field during its match against the New England Revolution. The Reds are among several Major League Soccer teams holding similarly themed events.

The Reds aimed to promote inclusion in sport on the night by incorporating members of You Can Play — an organization dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all who participate in sports, including LGBTQ athletes, coaches and fans — into its pre-match ceremony, providing information to fans about the organization on the concourse and donating a portion of ticket sales to their cause.

Bradley — who is one of the faces of the league’s Don’t Cross The Line initiative, which emphasizes its commitment to end discrimination of any kind — said it is so important in today’s world for people of all walks of life to understand they’re all equal, no matter race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or upbringing.

“The ability to understand what other people are going through, the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes, the ability to love and respect other people no matter what the differences are, there’s nothing more important,” he said, though he was not able to wear the armband once again on Friday thanks to suspension.

Getting that message out there last June wasn’t so easy, said Bradley. It was a spur of the moment decision in the wake of the nightclub attack that had his national team’s equipment manager Jesse Bignami scurrying around to get the rainbow armband made.

“We didn’t tell anybody because, unfortunately, things like that with FIFA don’t always go over as well as they should so we kept that one quiet until the last second,” Bradley said. “(Bignami) had the armband made up and kind of kept it in his pocket until right before we went out to walk on the field.”

He is not aware of any ensuing fine from soccer’s governing body.

Reds coach Greg Vanney said he believes MLS, and leagues across North America, are taking initiative to bring important social issues like discrimination “into the right frame of mind and right light.”

“I think we need to continue to be ambassadors for important social issues to keep moving things forward,” he said. “The idea of being a progressive (city), I think Toronto is one of those, and I think it’s important for us to continue to move in that direction and keep being leaders in that space.”

It’s no surprise to Vanney that his captain is one of the players leading that charge. Bradley has spoken out about similar issues before, namely denouncing U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed Muslim ban in January, saying Trump’s actions were “sad and embarrassing” and calling the president “out of touch.”

Bradley, Vanney said, is one of the first guys to step up for a cause or issue he believes in.

“I know he’s made some comments about his ability to have an impact on those types of things socially and finds it to be important as he is a figure now that people are looking to,” Vanney said recently. “You don’t always have that celebrity; especially as an athlete, you have celebrity for a certain amount of time. You don’t always have that, so to use that time in an effective way as a leader for causes is a great thing.”

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